PLATO Computer Learning System 50th Anniversary

[Recorded: June 2, 2010]
Science fiction writer William Gibson once famously said, "The future is already here. It's just not evenly distributed." Such was the case in the early 1970s, when the fourth generation of the PLATO system, evolving since 1960 at the University of Illinois, made its debut. Viewed from today, it is hard to believe that the PLATO IV system could have existed when it did: Terminals with touch-sensitive, gas-plasma flat-panel displays, random-access audio, built-in color microfiche projectors and a powerful authoring language for developing nearly any kind of program imaginable.

PLATO was a centralized, mainframe-based system, with very sophisticated terminals connected to it. Its mission was to deliver education electronically at low cost. But it became much, much more than that. It quickly became home to a diverse online community that represented a microcosm of today's online world.

Much of what we take for granted in today's hyper-active, always-on world of social media, blogs, and addictive computer games could be applied to what life was like on the PLATO system beginning in the mid-1970s.

PLATO, an acronym standing for "Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations," started as a project of the Coordinated Sciences Laboratory (CSL) at the University of Illinois in 1960. The original goal was to build on the mechanical "teaching machine" work of B.F. Skinner and instead see if it was possible to build a computer that could teach. In time they discovered not only was the answer yes, but computers could be extremely effective, and economically viable, at teaching large segments of the population.

In the 1970s, Control Data Corporation entered into a series of agreements with the University of Illinois to commercialize the PLATO system and bring it to the marketplace. The result was a great expansion of PLATO throughout the U.S. and the world, with systems installed in Canada, France, Belgium, Israel, Sweden, Australia, South Africa, United Kingdom, and elsewhere.

Fifty years on, PLATO has left its imprint across a wide range of computing activities, from e-learning to social media, from online multiplayer games to major hardware and software innovations. In this lecture, Brian Dear, founder of the PLATO History Foundation presents an overview of PLATO's history. Then Dr. Donald Bitzer, creator of PLATO and co-inventor of the flat-panel gas plasma display, and Microsoft's Ray Ozzie (who got his start on PLATO at the University of Illinois) discuss the history and impact of PLATO with John Markoff of the New York Times.

• Category

  Science & Technology

[djarcade]

the German Democratic Republic had the U880 microprocessor. it was a unlicensed version of the Z80.

[atwaterpub .]

When I left Champaign Urbana, and the PLATO system, in 1986 and moved to LA; I felt lost -- like I had moved back into the medieval dark ages. I felt like I had seen the future and everyone I knew was backward and uneducated. It was not until I got internet access in 1995, that I started to feel like I was a member of a real society again.

[atwaterpub .]

I have heard that the Soviets made an 8080 chip, by copying the IBM chip through a microscope...  I do not know if that is true.

[robomail99]

I was one of those kids (13yr old) who got the UI campus police called on them staying overnight at CERL. About a month later, they put the curfew signs up...

[platohistory]

FYI there is an error in my presentation, at the 07:49 point in this video, regarding IBM's paper at the 1958 conference of Automatic Teaching. In my talk in this video, I say that they used an IBM 704 computer. Actually it was an IBM 650 connected to a 650 Inquiry Station typewriter.

Also, I am not sure why in the video at the 16:47 point, the video does not actually show the animation of the Star Wars sequence, but rather just shows the last still frame of the sequence.

- Brian Dear

[jdaleske]

This was one of the best events I have attended and this opening session was just wonderful. Learned a great deal and was glad to have participated. + John

[newcoleco]

1:23:36 - Near the end of this video, they talked about Socrate console. I don't know if it's the same, but I did have a Socrate console, maybe still have it, I'm not sure. I did prefer the games in cartridges than the ones included inside the game system. Unfortunately, I was "too old" to use this console for learning... and the controls are pretty bad most of the time.